Worcester, Mass. – Visiting Smith College overcame a monster 24-kill, 19-dig effort from Clark University freshman Marina Ramos (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico), the support of a raucous crowd and came away with a 3-1 win over the host Cougars in New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) volleyball action on Tuesday evening.

The win for the Pioneers improves their record to 6-5 overall and 1-0 in league games, while the Scarlet and White slip below .500 at 4-5 and are 0-1 in conference contests.

The first set was one of streaks as Smith jumped out to an early 14-6 lead, but the Cougars trimmed that down to 16-14 after a run of their own. Another scoring spree by the visitors made the score 23-16 and they went on to win, 25-18.

With the score tied 9-9 in the second set, Clark never relinquished the lead again, leading by as many as four points after a Mel Conde (Union City, Calif.) kill made it 19-15 and then their advantage jumped to six on the set-winning kill by Ramos.

Smith was in total control in the third set racing to an 18-9 advantage before settling for the convincing 25-15 win.

The fourth set seemed to be headed in that direction as well when the Pioneers led 14-8 following a block by Allison Hardy (Nashville, Tenn.) and Jenna Rubin (Norwalk, Conn.). Clark fought back, however, getting as close as 22-21 on a cross court kill by Savannah Sanford (San Anselmo, Calif.). In the end, Smith won three of the final four points to get the win, highlighted by a thunderous Hardy kill.

Mei-Li Smith (Cypress, Calif.) finished with 14 kills and 13 assists for Smith, while Hardy chipped in with nine kills, 16 digs and five block assists.

Dayra Diaz-Marquez (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) handed out 21 assists to go with 11 digs and Julie Voorhes (Ramona, Calif.) added 17 digs of her own.

In addition to Ramos, Sanford totaled eight kills and 22 digs while Mia Cattaneo (Santa Barbara, Calif.) provided a match-high 25 digs.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday with conference road contests. Clark travels to Coast Guard, while Smith visits Babson.